Where to stay in Railay/Tonsai?!

Yo! 

Anyone have any beta on places to stay in Railay/Tonsia? We'll have a larger group size. Likely 4-6 folks. Had dreams of renting a giant villa type thing but seems wildly expensive when glancing online I guess I always assumed this place was pretty cheap but lodging doesn't seem to be. Should we show up and wing it? Go for the cheaper bunks? Or any sneaky mid priced fancy places? 

Cheers, 

Cuba Tufas for attention :)

Stay on the Tonsai side, that’s where all the climbers stay and it’s less crowded and touristy than Railay. 

Dirtbag option: show up without a reservation, walk the path behind the big resort, and rent some bungalows from a variety of options for $10-20 a night. What to expect: no hot water (but it’s 90 degrees so who cares) and no power during the day (but you’ll be climbing so who cares). I stayed at a place called Green Valley in January that had bungalows like that and had a great time and no problem getting a room even in peak season. Most of the options are pretty similar, just walk around and see which one is least dirty (avoid Dream Valley though, it looks fancy but it’s infested with bedbugs).

Mid-tier option: Tonsai Bay Resort. You’re paying for AC all day. Nice on rest days and when you inevitably get food poisoning (part of the Tonsai experience unfortunately).

High-tier option: Tinidee. Stay here if you want all the other climbers to dislike you.

I stayed in Ao Nang this winter. Railey/Tonsai is a peninsula without any land access, so I ended up taking the longtail boats back and forth each day. 100 baht for round trip tickets, and I honestly enjoyed getting to ride on the boats past the coastline and getting to know the boat guys.

 The positives of staying at Ao Nang were: cheaper accommodations for higher quality lodging (more like paying 15-20 USD a night for a nice hotel room with AC, a kitchen, etc…), the food is about 50% cheaper in Ao Nang, and there are a ton of restaurants, bars, and European tourists to hang out with. The other surprise was Ao Nang Wall North on the mainland which is a newer sector with really great climbing.

The negative side is that you do have to “commute” back and forth each day which leaves early morning starts and late evening/night returns as near impossible unless you charter a boat (600 baht), the climbing community mostly stays at Tonsai like Jacob mentioned and I would hear stories about the hangouts in the evenings on the beach (I lined up partners from MP beforehand so had the partner-end covered but could see that being harder if you weren’t at the hangouts).

I was blown away by Thailand’s climbing! Definitely worth a trip at least once!